M. Lwt. Crew to open season

The Penn men's lightweight crew team is determined to make this season one of change.

Last season, a squad of young Quakers were disappointed with their overall record, attributing the less-than-successful season to injury and inexperience.

But its now one year later, and the Red and Blue have renewed confidence.

"I don't think anyone wants to go through what we went through last year," Penn senior Matt Courtin said. "Our attitude is a lot better, and our overall team mentality."

Penn will debut its new and improved squad this weekend when they take on a duo of respectable New Jersey crews.

The Red and Blue travel to New Brunswick to take on Rutgers this Saturday. Then, on Sunday, the Quakers square off against Ivy League rival Princeton.

"We've never done this back-to-back thing before," Courtin said. "How we perform on Saturday will have a large influence on how we do on Sunday."

Although the Tigers and the Scarlet Knights will be fierce opponents, the Red and Blue are unconcerned. The squad is ready for the immediate challenge.

"They've definitely given us trouble in the past," Penn captain Brian Conely said. "We're looking to change our past record around to a lot more wins."

After coming back to Penn a week earlier than normal, and then adding in an extra week of practice before racing, the Quakers are more than anxious to test their skill in a competitive format.

"In the fall we do long-distance racing, now is like the real head-to-head racing," Penn sophomore Scott Barbash said. "It's a lot more exciting. Its sort of a culmination. We have a lot of potential. This year we've been getting a lot more effective training in. So, I guess we feel more prepared."

The Quakers will have five boats racing this weekend: the varsity eight-man boat, the JV eight-man boat, a four-man crew and then two freshman eight-man boats.

With 12 seniors returning, the Quakers are confident that their times and scores will improve.

"We definitely expect that if we pull our hardest, we should give them a good race," Barbash said.

The Quakers are relying on their new-found determination and motivation to propel them through a long and grueling weekend.

"We just have a pretty big desire," Courtin said in regards to the difference between this year and last year's squads. "I just think that we've been pretty goal-oriented."

The Quakers spent the bulk of the winter preparing for this weekend. They feel the results of their intensive training will become apparent immediately.

"The guys are meeting the goals that they've set and feel more confident about themselves," Courtin said.

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